Columns

I’ll make a confession here at the start, which may surprise you. I truly get tired of writing about Donald Trump. But nearly every day, there’s another outrage or stupid excess that can’t be ignored.
Often, with this weirdo, it’s his Twitter account, which no one can apparently take away from him. Last week, he disgraced himself again in his long-running feud with the co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

It’s a little mystery that Bedford-area voters have almost figured out, but not quite. Why are the realtors, the health industry, the beer wholesalers and bankers, coal operators and electric utilities shoving all that cash into the Virginia legislature?
“Puzzles plus money produce the view that the money explains the puzzles,” legal scholar Lawrence Lessig has written. “In a line: We don’t trust our government.”

There have been a couple of incidents in the air over Syria involving U. S. aircraft and Syrian aircraft. In one incident, a Syrian unmanned arial vehicle (UAV) was approaching Syrian rebels being trained to fight Islamic State. It appeared on a run to drop or launch some sort of munition. An American plane shot it down.

Lately, there’s been a lot of speculation about why so many self-styled Christians voted for Donald Trump, especially given Trump’s obvious love of himself and money, his habitual lying, and other major character concerns.
It seems everyone has settled on 80 percent as the reliable percentage of “Christian conservatives” who voted for Trump. They appear to believe, generally, that whatever faults he has, he is nonetheless carrying out what could be called a “pro-Christian” agenda.

Two weeks ago a group of people got a look at Bedford’s newest business when Beale’s Brewery opened its doors to host a party. The brew-pub will hold a soft opening this Thursday at noon and open to the public on Saturday.
This development recycles existing developed property. Instead of plowing over undeveloped land, the developer made use of one of the old industrial buildings that have been moldering along the railroad tracks for decades.

Last week’s gubernatorial primary didn’t produce any surprise winners, but it still didn’t turn out as largely predicted.
Democrat Ralph Northam sailed to a more sizable win than had been thought likely, as he cashed in all the chips he’d gathered over the last few years.

She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. (Judges 16:20 NSAB)